Health professionals are ‘go-to’ information source

When it comes to medical treatment, healthcare professionals remain the most trusted source for information. According to a recent online survey of more than 600 AccentHealth viewers, 64% of viewers cite their healthcare professional as their source of information for prescription medicines, while 31% say they go to healthcare professionals for information on OTCs.

Patient Views is a new, exclusive consumer insights feature that appears in every edition of DSN magazine, as well as the daily e-newsletter DSN A.M. If you could ask 5,500 patients anything at all, what would it be? Send your questions to [email protected].

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. has sold its consumer credit card portfolio to TD Bank Group for $5.7 billion, the mass merchandise retailer said.

Target said that under the seven-year deal, TD Bank will underwrite, fund and own future Target Credit Card and Target Visa receivables in the United States, control risk management policies and oversee regulatory compliance. Meanwhile, Target will perform account servicing functions and maintain the current integration between its financial services operations and retail operations; the agreement will have no effect on its 5% REDcard Rewards program.

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — MinuteClinic president and SVP/associate chief medical officer of CVS Caremark, Andrew Sussman, traveled to London this week to discuss how MinuteClinic is improving care and access at substantially lower cost, the company has announced.

On Tuesday, Sussman participated in the “Innovation in Primary Care” panel at the Improving the Quality of Primary Care: An International Perspective Conference. The event was hosted by Lord Ara Darzi, director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London’s Centre for Health Policy, and Sir David Nicholson, CEO of the National Health Service in England. The following day, Sussman took part in the “Innovation Goes Global” panel at the 2013 Healthcare Innovation Expo, an event that features some inspiring healthcare innovations and discussions with national and international healthcare experts.

"The innovations we are employing at MinuteClinic to deliver easily accessible, low cost, evidence-based care are applicable to health systems outside the United States," Sussman said.

MinuteClinic, which has 640 locations in 25 states, has been adding locations and increasing its scope of services to accommodate the increasing need for care.

With a growing shortage of primary care physicians, an increase in obesity and chronic disease, an aging population and an influx of newly insured Americans, MinuteClinic has been demonstrating the important role it plays in patient care in the United States. MinuteClinic has also been forging strategic clinical affiliations with healthcare systems across the United States, creating opportunities for a variety of collaborative programs.

"By establishing affiliations with health systems, we are ensuring the quality of care patients receive at our MinuteClinic locations is top-notch. These relationships include development of joint clinical programs and electronic medical records integration. Most importantly, they lay the groundwork for MinuteClinic’s participation in accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes and other integrated networks of care, all of which are growing rapidly nationwide,” Sussman said.

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Pulitzer Prize-winner Peggy Noonan, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and singer Diana Ross now feature on the schedule for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores Annual Meeting, slated for April 21-24 in Palm Beach, Fla.

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